On the topic of museum registrars and the role of museums as protectors of valuable cultural objects, museums do have their share of "incidents," where works are damaged or taken by members of the public. Stealing art from museums continues, even with the best security systems. After all, museums are open to the public, and as such offer opportunities for objects to get under foot, or to generate an emotional response that is not always positive. And who can resist the high stakes involved, when a single painting can be worth upwards of 50 million dollars?
Search the web for a report of a work getting damaged by the public either by accident or on purpose to make a statement. Or find a story about an art theft, one that is either solved or unsolved (not using examples from class).
Post a short summary (4 sentences) of the incident (when, where, how, etc.) and a live link to the story/video, no later than
Monday, October 3, 5 pm upload. Thanks!
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/25/boy-trips-in-museum-and-punches-hole-through-million-dollar-painting
An old woman filled a blank crossword that was part of a piece of art in the Neues Museum Nürnberg. the name of the piece was "Insert Words." https://news.artnet.com/art-world/elderly-visitor-solves-crossword-artwork-557816
ReplyDeleteAt the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge in 2006, a man tripped down a staircase and left three valuable Chinese Vases, worth 100,000 Great British Pounds, in pieces. The man, Nick Flynn, had an untied shoelace coming down a staircase, which caused him to trip and fall into three Qin Dynasty Vases, which were on a windowsill at the bottom of the stairs. At the time the article was written, the museum was evaluating the damage and fortunately believed it would be possible to restore the pieces. Unfortunately for Mr. Flynn, he was banned from the museum for some time after the incident.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/feb/06/arts.artsnews1
In 2012 the jihadist group linked to Al Qaeda deliberately destroyed ancient Muslim shrines in Timbuktu, Mali, which were recognized as the World Heritage sites by UNESCO. The official reason for that was the jihadist's group assertion that "the shrines violated Islamic legal codes." These holy places were really important for local people, who went there to pray and some even treated them as a place of pilgrimage. Thus, in fact, by destroying the shrines the jihadist group was trying to erase people's identity, so it would be easier to control them. On Tuesday, September 27th 2016 the International Criminal Court sentenced one of the leaders of the jihadist group to 9 years in prison. This is a remarkable case, first in the history of the ICC, which hopefully will set a precedent for the future, recognizing that destruction of the cultural heritage sites is a war crime and a crime against humanity.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/world/europe/ahmad-al-faqi-al-mahdi-timbuktu-mali.html?_r=0
The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is developing something of a bad reputation for its artwork getting damaged. In the past twelve years, over forty pieces have been damaged by visitors, staff members, or from accidents in the storage room. Museum spokespeople are downplaying the events, saying that any modern art museum is bound to have some damage to pieces because of how much closer visitors are allowed to get to the art. Other observers from the art community feel that the museum is ignoring its responsibility to protect the art and preserve it for the future. What seems the most egregious though, is the number of works that have been damaged by 1. a leaking air conditioning unit in the storage room and 2. lack of concentration from staff members handling the pieces. One outside observer concedes that visitors are bound to damage the art, but he cannot excuse damage caused by substandard building conditions and poorly-trained staff.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/67733869/te-papa-artworks-being-damaged-by-visitors
This sounds like a nightmare! Thanks for sharing, and my only thought is that the public sounds like they are not used to unconventional art? Wow.
DeleteIn 1964, artist Dorothy Podber shot Andy Warhol's "Marylin" and four other canvases with a pistol during a visit to his studio. Before firing at the works, she asked Warhol if he would mind if she shot some of his works. He thought she meant with a camera. One of the canvases that was damaged was repaired and later sold for 4 million dollars.
ReplyDeletehttp://art-damaged.tumblr.com/
Classic example, but not in a museum, so a little different situation.
DeleteA glass sculpture was broken by a man at the Tacoma Art Museum in 2015. The artwork is a Dale Chihuly work called “Gilded Lavender Ikebana with Lapis Stem and Two Leaves,” valued at $120,000. The man has mental illness and has done some felony before. He swung his arm and broke off the artwork on purpose. The artwork was damaged irreparably and can’t be on display anymore.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/crime/article36959307.html
In 2014, at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera in Milan, Italy, a student visiting the museum managed to break the leg off of a 19th century sculpture... when he sat on it to take a selfie. The Greco-Roman statue was the Drunken Satyr, representing the passed out form of a follower of Dionysus, and luckily it was not the original (that one dates back to 220 BC and is currently in a museum in Germany). The student apparently wanted to Snap a picture of himself sitting in the lap of the statue, so he climbed on up and broke the statue's left leg off in the process. The museum workers found the broken pieces of the leg around the statue the following morning.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2584415/Student-destroys-statue-trying-selfie-sitting-knee.html
In January of 2010, Picasso's painting "The Actor" was damaged at the Met after a woman tripped and fell onto the painting. This caused a six inch tear in the lower left corner of the 6 foot 4 inch tall piece. The painting is known for showing the transition between Picasso's Blue Period to his Rose Period. Luckily, the tear was minor enough to be thoroughly repaired without being noticeable to the public and went on to be shown at another exhibition in April of 2010.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/2010/US/01/24/picasso.painting.damaged/
A janitor at the Museion Bozen-Bolzano in South Tyrol, Italy threw away thousands of dollars worth of literal trash used in a contemporary art installation about "the 1980s … a period of consumerism, hedonism, financial speculation, mass media, socialist politics and parties". Thankfully she was not fired for doing her job, to pick up garbage. Apparently the installation was indistinguishable from the trash filled atrium used the night before for the opening reception. Similar incidents have occurred at other contemporary galleries around the world. Vittorio Sgarbi, a prominent Italian art critic commented that "If she thought it was rubbish, it means it was. Art should be understood by everyone—including cleaners". Rather than allow the cleaner to participate in the artistic process, the gallery decided to reassemble the installation from what they could reclaim from the trash.
ReplyDeletehttps://munchies.vice.com/en/articles/a-janitor-threw-away-a-boozy-art-exhibit-thinking-it-was-trash
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-26270260
http://gawker.com/cleaning-lady-throws-away-expensive-modern-art-she-mist-1527595660
So much for the installation by Italian artists Sara Goldschmied and Eleonora Chiari! Legendary story here!
DeleteIn 2011, National Gallery of Art visitor, Susan Burns, was "offended" by the image portrayed in Paul Gaugin's "Two Tahitian Women." It is a painting with two women topless. She yelled the painting was evil and proceeded to try to rip it down from the wall while banging on the glass cover. She was charged with destruction of property. This seemed to not have been as grand of a punishment, though, because Burns returned to the National Gallery in August of the same year and damaged the frame of Henri Matisse's "The Plumed Hat." Both times, she was stopped by other museum visitors.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/national-gallery-visitor-attacks-gauguin-painting-officials-say/2011/04/03/AFoATUXC_story.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/national-gallery-suffers-second-art-attack/2011/08/15/gIQAIBMvHJ_gallery.html
In 1972, Michelangelo’s Pieta was attacked by a deranged Hungarian man named Laszlo Toth who leapt off an alter railing in St. Peter's Basilica to reach the sculpture. He struck the masterpiece 12 times using a hammer while screaming “I am Jesus Christ”. Being the most prized possession of the Vatican, they made it their goal to restore it. After a long 10 months of restoration, the Pieta was on display again. This time, however, it is protected behind bullet proof glass.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.reuters.com/article/us-vatican-pieta-idUSBRE94K0KU20130521
This was an example from class - was hoping you had another one in mind for the post.
DeleteOn October 1, 2016 The Washington Post released an article about a recently solved art theft. Fourteen years ago in 2002 two thieves used a ladder, window, and rope to steal two Van Gogh paintings from the Vincent van Gosh Museum in Amsterdam. The FBI was able to use DNA to catch and imprison the thieves, however the paintings disappeared without a trace. Last week, Italian investigators discovered the paintings inside of Mafioso Raffaele Imperiale’s house during a raid because he was believed to be the “head of a cocaine-smuggling ring.”
ReplyDeleteLive link to the story and video: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/10/01/two-van-goghs-were-stolen-14-years-ago-last-week-they-were-found-in-a-drug-kingpins-safe/
In April 2011 Andres Serrano’s controversial piece “Immersion (Piss Christ)” was destroyed at the modern art museum, the Collection Lambert, in southern France. According to the police two people tried entering the museum with spray paint and a chisel in their jackets. While the guard was removing the objects a third person took a hammer to the photograph. The museum doors were closed the next day its weekly closing, but reopened the next day with the destroyed works on display so the public can see the damage.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/8460351/Piss-Christ-photograph-attacked-with-hammer.html
Can't believe they decided to show the damage. Usually museums don't want the public to see. Gutsy here.
DeleteOn February 25,2006 Rio DE Janeiro was celebrating Carnival when four men entered Chacara do Ceu museum and stole paintings by Picasso, Matisse, Monet, and Dali. The men used the crowed of the Carnival to mask their escape. They walked away with over 20 Million dollars of stolen art and the only Dali in a public museum in South America. the thieves were thought to know exactly what they were doing as these pieces were among the most valuable in the museum.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/26/world/americas/brazil-art-heist-is-cloaked-by-carnival.html?_r=0
In early 2013, the painting “La Liberté Guidant le Peuple” by Eugene Delacroix was purposefully defaced with a permanent marker. The act was reportedly politically-motivated, fueled by the rhetoric and beliefs of ‘ae911truth.org,’ an organization that supports the theory of alternative means of demolition to the World Trade Center and Pentagon than that of destruction upon aircraft impact. The painting-- displayed prominently in the Louvre at the time of its defacement by a 28-year-old female AE911 supporter-- was originally created to celebrate the 1830 Revolution. Reports indicate that there was no permanent damage sustained by the painting as the marker’s ink only affected the topmost protective transparent coating on the painting’s surface, not the foundational paint beneath.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/feb/08/delacroix-painting-defaced-louvre
On June 30th 2015 a small boy knocked over a historic jug. It was a complete accident and he was devastated. It was the Christchurch Mansion museum in Ipswich, Suffolk. The jug broke into 65 pieces. Unfortunately, a museum cannot protect an object 100 percent. Things are bound to happen. It is just important that the objects are protected as much as possible. The jug was fixed and put back on display. I find it cute that the museum is trying to find the boy to tell him not to worry about it.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/30/christchurch-mansion-jug-_n_7698760.html
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ReplyDeleteIn 1911, an art thief by the name of Vincenzo Peruggia stole the Mona Lisa from the Louvre Museum. Peruggia was a former employee of the museum, and was hired to create glass casings for some of the museum's rarer pieces. Staying after hours by wearing an employee smock, Peruggia slipped the Mona Lisa out of its frame, wrapped it in his smock, and left the building. Because works were being cleaned and photographed routinely, it took about a day for people to notice the piece was missing, and it took two more years before it was found. The painting was found after Peruggia had smuggled it into Italy, thinking he would be praised as a hero for returning the Mona Lisa to da Vinci's "homeland." For although da Vinci had been working on it in France during the time of his death, many believed that as his most famous work, and as an Italian painter, it belonged in Italy.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/2013/11/18/world/europe/mona-lisa-the-theft/
On March 18, 1990, a huge collection of 17th century oil paintings of the Napoleonic Finial were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Two thieves were disguised as Boston police officers, and tricked the museum guards into believing their story of having a warrant. The thieves stole the artwork throughout the night, and to this day, there is still a huge reward for the return of the art.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.gardnermuseum.org/resources/theft
This was an example from class. Was looking for an example from your own research.
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